When does Carolina desert-thorn bloom in Texas?

Most often in July. Across 267 dated, research-grade observations of Lycium carolinianum in Texas, the flowering season runs roughly March to November.

Peak July In flower 267 Examined 332 State Texas

Flowering 267 in flower of 332 examined

61%

63%

83%

87%

94%

83%

92%

90%

86%

74%

Proportion of examined Lycium carolinianum in Texas in flower, by month
Month	In flower	Examined	Share	95% interval
Jan	19	31	61%	44% to 76%
Feb	17	27	63%	44% to 78%
Mar	19	23	83%	63% to 93%
Apr	13	15	87%	62% to 96%
May	3	3	too few examined
Jun	4	4	too few examined
Jul	15	16	94%	72% to 99%
Aug	15	18	83%	61% to 94%
Sep	22	24	92%	74% to 98%
Oct	35	39	90%	76% to 96%
Nov	54	63	86%	75% to 92%
Dec	51	69	74%	62% to 83%

Peak flowering in Jul. Each bar is the share of Lycium carolinianum in Texas observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 267 of 332 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 2 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.wt38fd.

What this is, and what it is not

This is a record of when people in Texas found Lycium carolinianum in flower, not a forecast. It is computed only from observations made in Texas, so it is not the species’ global average dragged onto a map: the same plant flowers on different dates in different places, and that is the entire point of the page.

It will not tell you what your particular plant will do this year. Bloom time moves with the season, with altitude, and with the weather, and a warm February pulls everything forward. We publish the distribution and the sample size, and we refuse to draw a month that too few people examined.

The plant

Lycium carolinianum

Carolina desert-thorn

Sourcesevery claim on this page

GBIF (iNaturalist Research-grade Observations). Dated flowering annotations in Texas. Every record achieved iNaturalist quality grade Research, which is applied upstream at export. 10.15468/dl.wt38fd. Retrieved 2026-07-14.
World Flora Online Plant List. The accepted name. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.